The Alphabet
by thebookworm17
Summary: A story of how Harry and Ginny got together after the war despite the issues thrown at them. Mainly sticks to the where book 7 ends before the epilogue apart from the fact that FRED'S ALIVE because I couldn't have him dead. So its called 'The alphabet' because every chapters going to be a new letter, it doesn't have anything to do with the actual story. Rated T for bad language.
1. A

**A/N: Okay guys, I know it's been an age even though I promised I start writing again quickly and for that I'm so sorry but I hope y'all like this, it's going to be a short introduction to the story I have coming. I hope you enjoy. Obviously all the characters belong to our Lord and saviour J.K Rowling.**

A – (From the point of view of Ginny Weasley)

Ginny Weasley looked down at the stone floor. Everything around her was filthy, the walls the floor even her shoes were covered with dust and grime and her little toe poked out of the top of the right shoe. Bits of stone wall and glass littered the floor like morbid confetti, the reminder of what the school had been before it was torn down before her very eyes. She couldn't resist the urge to kick one of the smaller pieces of rubble, but regretted it instantly. It soared into the wall and bounced off, shattering the only un-broken window in the corridor with a loud crash. She froze, listening for the sound of angry voices or quick footsteps but heard none.

Hogwarts had gotten used to the sound of breaking glass.

She couldn't help the small smile that stretched across her face, there was something very soothing about causing her own personal bit of mayhem in the madness and mess that was Hogwarts, even though no one would know that she was responsible _she_ would know and that was satisfaction enough. It seemed that liking pandemonium was a Weasley gene.

She thought back to the last two days marvelling at how so much had happened it was getting to the point where it was hard to keep track, like a carousel that wouldn't slow down but wouldn't let you off either. The world seemed to be getting back on track again, Voldemort was dead, his body burned and his ashes placed in a chest buried deep under the lake, Shacklebolt was Minister for Magic and doing a great job of rounding up the last of Voldemort's supporters and for two days she hadn't seen Harry.

Well, that was a lie, she had seen him but he was constantly surrounded by admirers and people asking for his help. She couldn't help but noticed how uncomfortable he looked around all the people and she couldn't help a small smile at that. Despite everything that had happened, he was still Harry, still the socially awkward boy she had met when she was ten years old. But every time she smiled her thoughts were ruined by a small voice in her head crying out names. Names of the people she'd never speak to again: Remus, Tonks, and Collin Creevey, just some of the people she had known personally. She didn't have the right to smile when their families would never see those faces again.

It was a destructive way to think but she couldn't stop it.

She couldn't help but consider herself lucky at how easily her family had gotten off. They had had a scare with Fred but he had made it unlike so many others, she remembered back to when she had found out about her brothers survival.

 _Ginny looked up, she could hear the sounds of rapid footsteps along the corridor next to the classroom she was hiding in. Automatically she drew her wand, it had become instinct over the past year, but it was her mother that burst through the door and skidded to a stop in front of her. Molly flew at her daughter, pulling her into a tight hug, tears flowing down her cheeks but smiling from ear to ear, happiness seemed to burst from her in every direction._

" _Fred, Ginny, Fred! He's alive." Molly squealed. Ginny's stomach flipped over. Her mother laughed delightedly at her stunned expression as she pulled away. "He was poisoned by an acromantula and we thought he was dead but he was just paralysed. Poppy was checking him over and she felt the faintest heartbeat, one we missed. Ginny, he's going to make it!" Molly said, her face now covered in tears of happiness._

Ginny had been locked away in a classroom when her mother had finally found her, spewing her good news like an over-excited puppy. Ginny smiled at the memory of herself and her six brothers teasing Fred about his grand prank, he had adopted the name 'Lazarus' and joked about how he was this incredible, medical miracle.

Hermione and Ron had become inseparable. Although they were very controlled around everyone else Ginny kept on having the bad fortune of walking in on them in less flattering circumstances, she thanked whatever God was out there that she'd never walked in on them naked. Harry was himself again, better even, he was like he had been at Hogwarts, happy and free but even more so with the absence of Lord Voldemort on his back and the prospect of a long and happy life ahead of him. He still took the deaths of everyone as his personal fault but the sight of families reunited and lives beginning to return to normal seemed to lift some of the burden he would never let go of.

Ginny still hadn't had a chance to talk to him and it was slowly killing her. She wanted to grab his hand and drag him away, just to hear his voice but she knew he had more important commitments, she wasn't one of them.

"Ginny!"

"Speak of the devil." She murmured quietly under her breath as she turned and saw Harry was walking up the trashed corridor towards her, with a small smile on his face. She took a deep breath.

"Hey." She said brightly, turning back to look over the dark grounds at Professor Sprout leading the last group of students around for the day, teaching them how to regrow all the plants. It was easier not to look at Harry when he was this close, she didn't want to do anything stupid. He looked over her shoulder at the sight and his smile grew.

"It's nice how the teachers are using the destruction to teach the students." He said softly.

"Yeah." She murmured. She couldn't help but be hyper conscious of how close Harry was to her, she so wanted to tuck herself up in his body warmth. She turned to look at him, so she wouldn't lean back into him. She looked up into his face, trying to keep her expression neutral.

Bad idea.

Those eyes. Those amazingly green eyes could keep her staring all day, it was the first thing she had noticed about him when she had seen him on the platform all those years ago.

She noticed that Harry's face had become more worried, nervous even. Was she scaring him with her staring? She turned away again quickly to hide the blush creeping up her cheeks but Harry caught her arm and pulled her back to face him.

"Ginny, look, I know you're annoyed at me but can we talk first?" She was about to correct him (she wasn't annoyed, how could she be?) but the desperation in his voice shocked her for a minute and she just nodded, eyes wide. He seemed to relax slightly, pleased that she hadn't rejected him.

Like she could.

His hand slid down from where he had been holding her forearm into her hand and her heart skipped a beat.

"Smooth." She murmured, smiling at him sidelong, she couldn't help but tease Harry even when she was sure his feelings for her had long since gone. She struggled to hold back the grin when she saw him blush slightly, but she was quickly distracted by him pulling out a rubber band from his pocket and checking his watch. He took the hand he was holding and muttered for her to hold the band. She did so but not without sending him several quizzical looks.

The band began to glow and suddenly there was a familiar jerk from behind her navel and… WHAM.

Her feet slammed into soft, sandy ground and she fell back, landing on her arse, the sun blinding her and the sound of waves not far away. When she opened her eyes Harry was standing above her, a slightly amused expression on his face, but still there was that underlining of worry.

He offered his hand to her to pull her up, which she took but tugged hard, pulling him down towards the sound, landing on her with an 'OOF', that made her laugh out loud. He rolled off her grinning, the nervousness seeming to dissipate somewhat. She looked out and noticed they were on a beach, the sun glinting off the waves as they rolled on towards the sand.

"Do you want to swim?" Harry asked, watching her look out towards the water.

"Yes, but I want you to tell me why I'm here first." She said, looking back towards him, noticing that he took a deep breath.

"Okay, look I know you don't like me very much right now, wait," He said noticing her opening her mouth to object. "I know I left you when I should have been protecting you all the more and I'm sorry but I wanted to bring you here to explain why I had to go and why you had to stay and where I've been for a year."

Harry went on to explain all about Voldemort's horcruxes and his missions with Dumbledore and then the year with Ron and Hermione. About breaking into the Ministry, The forest of Dean, Godric's Hollow, Malfoy Mansion, Gringrott's, the battle of Hogwarts, Snape's memories, the forbidden forest and King's Cross. Harry explained everything in painstaking detail and Ginny sat and listened to everything and she couldn't stop the few tears that slipped down her cheeks.

When Harry finished there was a long pause as Ginny stared at her hands, taking a moment to absorb all the information and Harry watched her intently trying to know how she was reacting to it.

"The others…"

"All know. Ron and Hermione, your family, Shacklebolt." Harry said, answering her unspoken question, listing them off on his fingers. Ginny went back to staring at her hands.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked quietly, bright brown eyes meeting green. "I could've helped. I wanted to help."

"I didn't want you to get hurt."

Well _that_ hurt. She could feel the anger bubbling up inside her, did he not think she was skilled enough, not capable enough? Did he think she would get scared and run?

She stood up brushing the white sand off her jeans that were already starting to stick to legs with sweat, the heat of the sun bearing down. The calm, gentle atmosphere of the tropical beach seemed to dissipate as her anger grew more intense. She began to trudge off down the beach, pulling her holey jumper off as she went and tying it round her waist. She had only gone a couple of paces when sand began to fill her shoes and she paused for a moment to pull them off before carrying on down the beach.

Had she been in any other circumstances, had there not been a war on two days ago, had her ex-boyfriend not been the one to bring her to the beach, had she not been suffering from grief, she knew she would have been delighted, running around like an excited puppy, dancing in the waves and making sandcastles.

But there had been a war, she was grieving and it was Harry with her.

Harry.

She had been desperate to speak to him and now that she had she didn't quite know what she was doing or why she was doing it and why oh why was he telling her these things? Things she didn't have any right to demand. She wasn't his girlfriend and he didn't love her, even if he did…

 _He deserves better anyway._

The little voice in her head was back, bringing with it its usual gifts of sadness and self-doubt, but on this occasion the little voice was right. Harry deserved some gorgeous, slim, supermodel-worthy girlfriend with all the right clothes who he could be seen in public with. Not a freckly, red head with more temper than sense.

She stopped walking, her anger spent and replaced with a miserable guilt. She loved Harry but he could never be hers, anyway he had probably lost all his affection for her while he was away.

She had to let him go. The thought brought tears to her eyes but she blinked them away and turned to walk back to where she had left Harry only to find him a few paces behind her.

"Why did you tell me this? Why all this?" She asked, gesturing out to the white sand, rolling blue waves and the palm trees swaying gently in the breeze, eyes searching his face.

"You deserved the truth and I thought this made a better setting than the castle." He looked nervous again.

"Harry, you don't owe me anything ok? We were a summer fling, stop feeling like you have to explain all this to me." Ginny said as clearly as she could, trying so hard to stop her voice from shaking, swallowing the lump in her throat.

She could see no other logical explanation as to why on earth Harry would bring her to a beach and tell her everything that had happened. Harry was kind and gentle, he probably just felt he owed her this before he went off to find his new life.

Harry's eyes widened and he turned away quickly.

"Oh, okay, well yeah. Sorry this was a stupid thing to do." Harry muttered to himself and he began to walk away, back down the beach to where he had left his jumper.

Ginny's shoulders sagged and tears rolled freely down her cheeks, but no sound came out her mouth. Something had broken inside her when he had confirmed all her worries and doubts, that there brief time together had been just a fling.

She wiped her tears away as Harry trekked back towards her, jumper over his arm and his hair sticking up and out even more than normal in the humid air. He approached wordlessly and held out his arm, not meeting her eyes. She grasped it gently and suddenly felt the sensation of apparition, everything went black as she was pressed very hard from all directions, she couldn't breathe and there were iron bands tightening around her chest, her eyeballs forced back into her head and her ear-drums pushed deeper into her skull.

Suddenly the pressure vanished and she was standing in front of the burrow, light spilling from the kitchen windows but the house was silent. It seemed everyone had gone to bed and she didn't blame them after a brief glance at her watch. They had been gone for over two hours.

In everything that had happened with Harry she'd forgotten they had all moving back to the burrow tomorrow. She realised Harry must have told at least her mother what was going on so she wouldn't panic as she had been doing more since the fighting had stopped. Harry pulled away from her and she dropped her arm, wondering if that was the last time she'd ever get to touch him. The broken thing inside her stabbed a little deeper making her wince in pain.

Harry walked away through the front door of the Burrow, not turning back, leaving Ginny behind in the drive, barefoot and shivering in the cold darkness of the night a terrible contrast to the wonderful warmth of wherever they had just been.

She turned away from the house and ran as hard as could ignoring the tears as they leaked from her eyes.

 **A/N Its okay guys, I have a plan, there gonna sort this but your gonna have to bear with. Please do favourite and review or whatever and remember that I wanna hear your input, love or hate I need to know. Think about it like this…**

 **Your opinion is my drug.**

 **Carrie**


	2. B

**A/N Right then, next chapter for y'all, I know funerals are a bit of a morbid theme to have as the second chapter but I'm a firm believer in the fact that they, by which I mean the Harry Potter universe, would want to get all the funerals out the way after the battle. Everything obviously still belongs to J.K. Please enjoy…**

B – (From the point for view of Harry Potter, mainly)

Harry felt numb as he walked through the creaking front door of the Burrow.

He couldn't even look behind him as he closed the door because she would be there, looking so perfect and beautiful in the faint light and yet even the thought of looking at her reminded him of her words.

' _Harry, you don't owe me anything ok? We were a summer fling…'_

The words chimed through his mind like an almighty bell, repeating themselves over and over again. So it had never meant anything to her at all? Had he just been convenient? Had his birthday kiss, the kiss that had gotten him through so many torturous weeks on the run, really just been one for the road? He struggled with the knowledge that the person who had gotten him through so much didn't actually care for him at all. But struggle as he may the words had left her mouth and she hadn't seemed to regret them, then again he had been trying to avoid looking at her for fear he would embarrass himself.

He tried to swallow the lump in his throat but couldn't and he didn't notice the tears until they dripped off his face. He brushed them away hastily and walked on through the house, flicking lights of with a wave of his wand as he went. He used to not cry at all when he was living with the Dursleys as there had been no point in tears, it hadn't made them treat him any better. But over the past couple years since he had joined Hogwarts he seemed to be crying all the time.

He walked on into the family room, noticing how silent The Burrow was, its occupants sleeping peacefully, back in their own beds at last. He knew Ron would be thrilled as he had often talked to Harry about how he longed for his bed, he was sad to have missed the look on Ron's face when he finally got back into it at last. Harry looked up at the clock on the mantle and grimaced, it was past midnight which meant he only had six hours of sleep before he had to get back up again to get ready for Tonks and Remus's funeral in the morning. He had forgotten about the different time zones.

He trudged up the stairs, feeling heavy from the physical and emotional exhaustion he had put himself through for the past year, trying to make as little sound as possible so as not to disturb those sleeping but he was so tired and drained from the day that he forgot about the floor boards that creaked every so often. He mused back to a few months ago remembering how he thought this day may never come, the day when he would be walking up the stairs of the Burrow, but the victory still tasted slightly sour without Ginny by his side. He wondered where she was as he hadn't heard her come in, but somehow he found it difficult to care. Where all emotions for Ginny had been there seemed to be a dark ball of hurt

Harry practically fell through Ron's door way, only taking a few seconds to take off his shoes and socks before falling into a deep, uneasy sleep.

/

Ronald Billius Weasley was underrated. Everyone who knew Ron personally knew that. He was determined, honest and courageous, a true Gryffindor at heart, but something Ron had become amazingly good at was assessing situations and people.

Yes it was true, he had been an idiot before, misreading Harry and Hermione many times and causing countless arguments from his bad judgement. But over the past year, being on the run, camping in close quarters and leaving and being reunited with Harry and Hermione had caused him to become very good at reading people. It was something Hermione had first noticed and when Ron had returned and one of the reasons they were now dating. It was easier being together when Ron was more aware of Hermione's feelings without having to pry and question her all the time, it also meant that Ron upset her less and knew when he had slipped up.

So when Ron woke up and saw his best friend lying on the camp bed on top of the sheets, still in his clothes from the day before and wearing his glasses Ron knew something wasn't right. He knew Harry had been exhausted from the fights but yesterday he had been so full of energy (although he had refused to tell Ron why) that if whatever it was that Harry had been doing had gone well he would've at least been pumped up enough to take off his glasses.

Ron checked the alarm clock.

6:12 am it read.

Remus and Tonk's funeral was to be at 10:00 am and Ron reckoned Harry had about another hour before he had to get up and ready, judging by the fact Harry hadn't returned while Ron was awake that meant he hadn't had much sleep. Ron removed Harry's glasses, placing them on the floor next to the camp bed and slipped from the room frowning, wondering what on earth had gone on.

Ron wandered down to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee. He used to not be compatible with mornings but the year away from the comfort of his home had forced him to wake up early as a matter of survival and he hadn't yet been able to return to his original sleep pattern. He realised that it would probably be better to keep waking up early these days as so much had to be done to rebuild the wizarding world that there wouldn't be much time for sleeping if people needed help. As he waited for the water to boil he was surprised by the door of the burrow opening slowly.

Ron drew his wand immediately but lowered it in shock when he saw who would've been on the receiving end.

Ginny's eyes widened when she saw Ron and so did his when he saw her. She looked like she hadn't slept a wink all night, dark bags lay under her red and swollen eyes. She was wearing the same clothes as yesterday but they there were grass stains on the knees and her hair was tangled and messy like she had been running her hands through her hair and pulling at it.

Mrs Weasley had said that Ginny was going to say on a bit longer at the castle as she had grieving friends that she wanted to be with and that she would return at some point in the evening.

"Ginn…" Ron didn't get to finish, Ginny bolted from the room like a spooked deer sprinting up the stairs, taking the steps two at a time before dashing into the bathroom and closing the door with a snap.

 _What the hell is going on?_

/

Harry was shaking. No wait he wasn't shaking he was being shaken.

"Harry, Harry, wake up you lazy git, you have to wake up." Ron's voice drifted down towards him.

"Ron, I don't think you can really call the saviour of the wizarding world lazy." Hermione's voice rang out.

Harry smiled slightly at that.

"Yes! Yes I can when I know he can hear us and just isn't getting up! Harry I saw that, you smiled, I know you're awake!" Harry could hear the triumph in Ron's voice. "If you don't get up I'll get Fred and George to come think of a more exciting way to get you to greet the morning."

Harry's eyes snapped open.

"Git." He muttered at his friend, only causing the red head to grin harder.

Hermione was sitting on Ron's bed, a book open on her lap but she seemed to be more interested in Harry and Ron's antics, obviously not for long however as she raised her eyebrows before going back to her book.

"Blackmail Ron? I didn't think you had it in you." She said before taking a bite of the apple in her hand. Ron threw Harry's pillow at her.

Harry didn't want to get caught in a pillow fight so he wriggled off the camp bed, snatched the smart robes that had been laid out for him off the back of a chair and wandered out into the hall in search of a shower. The door to the bathroom opened and Ginny came out, looking fresh and clean in smart robes of navy blue but upon seeing him she froze before turning in the opposite direction sharply back towards her room without a word. A lump formed in Harry's throat and his good mood dissipated, the dark ball of hurt in his chest constricted. He didn't see the tears leaking down Ginny's face as she walked away.

/

The Weasley's, Harry and Hermione assembled on mass in the front yard of the Burrow, all dressed in smart dark clothes and oddly quiet as they waited for the portkey, an old wellington boot, to take them to the Tonks and Remus's funeral. No one spoke and no one moved.

Anyone who walked down the road would've been met with a very odd site, Harry mused as he waited, 11 grown men and women standing in a circle clutching an old boot in silence, he was glad that the wards to keep muggles out were still up and that they wouldn't have to awkwardly explain their way out of the current situation.

"5… 4…" Mr Weasley began to say, looking at his pocket watch. "3… 2…" The boot shone a bright blue colour and Harry felt the familiar jerk behind his navel before he was slammed back to the ground, proud however that her was one of the few who remained standing although he staggered slightly.

"I don't see why we couldn't have apparated." Ron grumbled under his breath as he got to his feet slowly.

"Really Ron?" Hermione asked. "For one they will have wards up all around the house and two Ginny, You, Me and Harry don't have our licenses."

"Didn't stop us when we were tracking down Horcruxes." Ron grumbled to Harry.

"I think that counts as special circumstances." Harry said to Ron forcing a smile.

The group wandered over a hill and down towards a small cottage nestled in front of a large wood. When they reached the front door Mr Weasley stepped forward to knock but the door swung open, leaving Mr Weasley with his hand raised awkwardly in the air as though he were about to knock on the forehead of the woman who was standing before him.

"Hello everyone." Said Andromeda Tonks fairly calmly for someone who had lost her husband, her child, her child's husband all in a very short space of time.

"Hello 'meda." Mrs. Weasley said as she walked forward to give the woman a hug. "I'm so sorry she murmured in her ear." Andromeda's eyes were bright with the unshed tears but she smiled.

"Please don't be sad or upset for me. My husband lived a long life and he's at rest now, and Tonks and Remus died for a better world, I want to be happy and celebrate their lives and remember their sacrifice rather than wallow in my own sadness, there in a better place now I can feel it." She said smiling.

The group were shocked at the woman's acceptance of her family's fate, but they granted her wish and tried their best not to be sad as she ushered them through the house and a little way into the woods to a clearing in which there was what seemed to be a small family graveyard. There was already one headstone, Harry assumed for Ted Tonks and two more empty graves next to it.

There was a large congregation to see the burial of Tonks and Remus, all the surviving order members were there, school friends of Tonks and a few of Remus's, family friends and work colleagues, everyone who had ever met the couple was grieving over the loss of two such amazing people.

The Weasley's all dropped into chairs and a few minutes later the service started.

Harry felt the guilt ripple through him as the person leading the ceremony talked of the terrible loss of such wonderful people. His emotions swirled with a mixture of pain, anger and guilt as the coffins were lowered into their respective graves. The Weather began to become overcast, the wind whipping furiously and the clouds rolling in in front of the sun. Hair and hats were blowing but Harry didn't notice. Hermione and Ron who were sitting next to him were staring at him shocked but Harry didn't know what they were getting riled up over and couldn't bring himself to care.

The agony of losing one of the last living connections Harry had to his parents was unbearable and he stood suddenly retreating away from the service. He couldn't look at the people from whom Harry had deprived their friends. Only the Weasley's noticed Harry leaving.

Harry's emotions were swirling out of control and he could hear a humming, something almost electrical sounding buzzing in the back of his mind. Harry wandered through the trees pausing to lean against a tree but gasped when it wilted and turned black. The tree looked as though it had been struck by lightning. Harry's emotions were swirling out of control as he added fear to the mixture.

He knew he had to calm himself down otherwise he was going to hurt someone, taking deep breaths he tried to think of a magically draining spell.

Pulling his wand from his sleeve, he shouted _Expecto Patronum_ and his silver stag burst from the end of his wand, calming him and draining his magic enough to get his emotions in check. The buzzing stopped and Harry slid his wand back into his sleeve.

He looked back at the dead, blackened tree and gulped.

/

When Harry returned to the clearing the chairs had been cleared away and the two graves were no longer empty. Harry walked over to the graves and sat down in front of the headstones reading the words but struggling to believe them. Worried about his magic getting out of check he forced his face into a blank neutral state and tried to get his emotions to get with the act.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by a hand on his back. He got to his feet and turned quickly to find Andromeda with Teddy in her arms standing behind him.

"I know both Remus and Tonks meant a lot to you Harry, and I also know a little about you, I know that you're going to try and apologize but if you do I will remove you from this reception. They didn't die for you Harry, they died trying to make a better world for their child and apologizing would be self-absorbed." Andromeda said sternly. Although her words were harsh Harry could tell she was trying to make him feel better.

The guilt in his stomach lessened slightly.

"Please may I hold Teddy?" Harry asked quietly.

"Of course, he is your godson after all." Andromeda said beaming at him as she passed him the small child. "Would you mind awfully holding him for a bit, I'm not as young as I used to be and it can get a bit tiring."

"Of course." Harry replied, smiling genuinely for the first time that day as the baby in his arms babbled at him. Harry sat down on the grass again, holding Teddy to his chest as though he were a precious jewel. He tickled and played with the child for an hour, not noticing the time flying by watching as Teddy changed his hair colour, face shape, eye colour, ears, whatever took the small child's fancy, Harry had been especially pleased when Teddy had changed his hair to be black and messy and his eyes green.

He didn't know how he managed to get away with no one disturbing him but he didn't care. It was only when Andromeda started calling for Harry that he stood up. Andromeda blinked when she saw Harry, frowning but shook her head and took Teddy from Harry thanking him profusely for looking after Teddy for so long.

"It was my pleasure." Harry reassured her. "You know if you want some help anytime or you need a quick break or even a babysitter I'd love to do it, I really want to see Teddy more often if that's okay with you." Harry told her, relieved when the witch beamed at him.

"Oh Harry that'd be wonderful! I could always do with an extra hand, feel free to come whenever, I don't do much socially and if I do I'll owl you to ask you to come over and watch him, she bounced the small child in her arms. That is unless you're not busy." Andromeda said keenly.

"I think I'm pretty much off the hook for a little while." Harry said, the first real joke he had made in a long time, even if it was small. Andromeda smiled, thanked him again and promised to alter the wards on the house to allow Harry to floo in.

The Weasley's had all congregated in a small huddle and Hermione beckoned him over. Harry frowned at the wary look they all seemed to be giving him before he fixed his gaze on Mr. Weasley who was pulling an old sock from one of his pockets which he held out to the rest of the group, they all grabbed a part of the sock and Mr. Weasley began to count them down again.

/

 **A/N So what in the name is going on? I know but I'm smug and I'm gonna draw this out a little bit, only to the next chapter though because I'm not a mean person, I'll work it out as I go along. Don't make that face at me, I have a plan, I'll make it work.**

 **Please review if you want me to continue this.**

 **Carrie**


	3. C

**A/N I've been really enjoying writing this and I've been trying to do it as quickly as possible so please bear with me. All rights belong to JK (Obviously)**

C – (From the point of view of Harry Potter)

Harry was becoming increasingly suspicious. It was too quiet, one could've argued that having just been to a funeral no one would've wanted to be loud and energetic but the frequent wary looks Harry was receiving from the Weasley's and Hermione was starting to get on his nerves. The large group trooped through the kitchen and Mr Weasley who was leading the group stopped and turned to face Harry, stopping him from leaving the room.

"Harry, could we have a word?" He asked politely, sending Mrs Weasley a look that sent her straight into making cocoa.

"Sure." Harry murmured uncertainly. He sat down at the large breakfast table, and watched the rest of the group do so as well, frowning, he hadn't realised this was going to be a family thing.

"Mr Weasley?" Harry asked uncertainly, the man was sitting staring at his thumbs as he twiddled them, looking up every now and then as though he was about to start speaking before looking back down frowning, as though he didn't know quite how to phrase the obviously bad news coming his way.

"It's your magic Harry." Hermione said, the first one to speak up in the silence. "I don't know quite what was happening but you managed to cause a storm." She spoke with perfect clarity but he knew he must've misheard something.

"A storm?" He asked incredulously, were they going mad? No human had the power to do that.

"In the middle of the service the wind gradually started going mental, people were almost being blown out of their seats, the sky turned grey in a couple of seconds. It suddenly stopped as soon as you walked away." Hermione explained.

"So? It was a freak storm, there's no way that I could've caused it." Harry told them, they still all looked very worried and Harry couldn't believe it, they were going mad for sure.

"Harry you were buzzing, like your whole body was humming faintly and when I reached out for your hand you literally gave me an electric shock, you crackled for a second when I touched you." Harry paled instantly, flashing back to the blacken tree, if Hermione had touched him only a couple of minutes later he could've killed her.

"Harry?" Hermione asked him, noticing the way his entire face had gone white at her words. "Look, it wasn't just that either. When we were at the reception afterwards, we saw you meet Andromeda and she gave you Teddy and then wandered away and I looked away for a couple of seconds and when I looked back you were gone." Hermione told him.

"What?! I was sitting right in front of the graves the whole time." Harry exclaimed.

"That's the point Harry, when Andromeda called out to you, you and teddy just suddenly reappeared again. I don't know how but you made yourselves invisible." Hermione told him.

Harry was struggling to process her words. She was telling him that he had changed the weather, shocked her and made himself invisible.

"How is all this happening?" Harry asked Hermione incredulously.

"Well I have a theory but I might not be correct." Harry couldn't help the edges of his mouth quirk up at that, Hermione had a theory or an idea or at least a general notion for everything. "Well you were already a very powerful wizard before, both your parents were incredibly magical but it's not just that. You and Voldemort have been connected since you were a child, your magic was literally tied in with his. I think that when you killed him you may have gained some or, more likely, all of his magical potential. You absorbed his power in a sense." Looking at Harry's horror-struck face she amended her statement slightly. "That doesn't mean you're going to go bad or anything Harry you just have a lot more power. I think that because you have all this power surging through you when you get particularly emotional it gives the power and outlet."

"You sort of magnify your emotions out of you." Ron spoke up, impressing the entire group. "Like today, you were obviously really upset because you lost two good friends, and so when you got really emotional and you reflected that into the weather, as you got more upset the weather got more overcast, I mean the sky was practically black before you left."

"Wow Ron." Fred and George said in unison looking at their brother with identical impressed looks. Ron glared at them.

Mr Weasley finally spoke up.

"For the most part it seems to be fairly harmless but…"

"It's not harmless." Harry interrupted, Mr Weasley looked up sharply. "After I left I walked out into the woods a bit and I learnt against a tree and…" Harry didn't quite know how to explain the tree but the Weasley's were all staring at him intently. "It looked like it had been struck by lightning, it turned black and went all withered and dead." Harry finished quietly, not daring to look up at the terrified looks on his friends faces.

"The Ministry has to be told."

"Arthur no!" Mrs Weasley shouted, slammed a pot down on the table furiously.

"Molly, this is something we've never come across before, I have absolute faith that Minister Shacklebolt will handle the situation with the upmost digression with his best and most trusted people on board. We can't help you Harry…" He turned to address Harry. "…If we don't know what's going on."

Harry couldn't speak. He had only just gotten rid of Voldemort and now because of that he had opened up a whole new can of worms. He couldn't help but feel that the whole world had something against his happiness. He was beginning to hear the faint buzzing sound in the back of his mind but he was too angry to notice it fully. What was it he had done in a past life that had been so horrific he deserved this kind of life. He had spent his entire childhood unwanted and friendless, his adolescence fighting an evil overlord and it looked like he was going to spend his years as an adult having to be completely emotionless for fear of killing one of his friends. The buzzing was getting louder until…

CRACK!

All the occupants around the table jumped and, including Harry, gasped as he drew his hand away to show a massive crack in the table were Harry's clenched fist had been. Harry stared at the damage, eyes wide and disbelieving. There was no contradicting it. That was solid evidence.

Harry couldn't bear being in the kitchen any longer with 10 pairs of eyes staring at him fearfully, he rose and walked as quickly as he could around the table and out into the yard but as soon as the cold air hit his face he broke into a sprint, running into the Weasley garden and continuing down to the wood at the bottom, he ran past the paddock that the Weasley children used as a Quidditch and deeper into the trees until he no longer recognised where he was.

There were tears streaming down his face but he didn't notice them. There was only one person he could talk to and his last link to him may not even have the information he needed.

Harry turned on the spot and disappeared.

/

Everyone stared at the crack Harry had made in the table.

Everyone stared and no one spoke.

Everyone stared and continued staring even when Hermione finally broke the silence.

"Maybe I didn't explain that too well." She groaned.

Dropping her head to the table she spoke exhaustedly and Ron didn't know what to say, he put his arm over her shoulders and she sat up, leaning into him tears leaking down her face.

Still no one spoke.

Still no one spoke because no one knew what to say.

Still no one spoke until Mr Weasley got to his feet and addressed the room at large.

"I know this is difficult but the only person I think can truly help us is Shacklebolt. I know Harry probably doesn't want the Ministry all over him again but I can think of nothing else to do."

"How will you get in touch with him Arthur? Surely his office is heavily protected against people just popping their heads in?" Mrs Weasley asked, she looked very upset and close to tears. She had always viewed Harry as a 7th son and to hear that her adopted child still couldn't escape from the terrors that seemed to constantly hang over his head, nearly had her breaking down from the injustice of it.

"When I informed Shacklebolt that harry would be staying with us he linked us up immediately in case any death eaters that hadn't been caught came looking for revenge." Mr Weasley said quietly.

"Can't he get any peace?" Ginny murmured, staring at the crack in the table with tears in her eyes, although she refused to let them fall.

No one spoke because no one knew what to say.

/

Harry's feet slammed back down into the place, despite some terrible memories, he would always call home.

Hogwarts.

Due to the aftermath of the war the wards were still down and Harry was able to apparate straight to the large front doors that he had escaped out of so many times as a teenager.

He couldn't deny that it was painful seeing Hogwarts in ruins but it was much better than it had been when he last saw it. He'd only left the day before and already there was less rubble and all the windows that Harry could see were intact. It looked like the plan to get Hogwarts ready for the new school year in September wasn't as crazy as Harry had first thought when Professor McGonagall had told him a day or two after the battle. It still shocked him what magic could do sometimes.

Harry wandered through the deserted castle, recalling both good and bad memories as he made his way to his destination but frowned when he got there. It hadn't occurred to him that one of the first things the repair force would do would be to fix the entrance to the Head's office since there were so many important objects and files in there.

Harry approached the gargoyle uncertainly.

"I don't suppose you could let me up could you?" Harry asked the gargoyle politely, hoping manners would work in his favour. Judging by the look on the gargoyles face he was wrong and he could've sworn he heard it mutter 'pathetic' under its breath.

"Ah come on! Is there some form of password how do I get up there?" He asked and the desperation in his voice must've come through because the gargoyle answered swiftly.

"State your name and business."

"Harry Potter, I need to speak to the portrait of Professor Dumbledore." To Harry's surprise the gargoyle jumped aside, he had assumed that there would be tighter security but since pretty much all the death eaters and Voldemort supporters had been rounded up he supposed there wasn't need for tight security

The thought made him smile.

He walked up the revolving staircase and walked into the office. Sighing with relief at the familiarity of the room, Harry walked over and stood behind the desk. As he walked some of the portraits began to wake and stalled there grumblings when they noticed who the visitor was despite the time of night.

Harry cleared his throat.

Dumbledore didn't need to be woken as his blue eyes were already staring down at him, giving him the familiar feeling of being X-rayed.

"Harry, what can I do for you at this time of night?" Dumbledore said smiling down at him not appearing the least disgruntled at having been disturbed at all unlike some of the other portraits around the room. They seemed to be appeased by the idea of whatever gossip it was Harry was about to spill and they listened intently.

"Do you remember any of your old memories?" Harry asked cautiously.

"Of course, if a portrait is painted for a specific person the painting absorbs the memories when the subject of the painting dies. I'd had this since the end of your fourth year in case I had died before I had managed to reinstate The Order of The Phoenix or direct you in the task involving the horcruxes."

"Perfect. See the thing is sir, well my magic's going a bit haywire. Hermione has a theory that since I was linked from a very young age with Voldemort I absorbed his power when he died and because I have all this extra magic rattling around in me its only outlet is when I get particularly emotional."

"Curious. In what type of way has your magic been affecting you?"

"Well, I changed the weather, electrocuted a tree, turned myself invisible and broke a table." Harry said, listing them off on his fingers.

Dumbledore's eyebrows rose.

"Hmm, very interesting, well I think Miss Granger is right, it makes sense that you would absorb Voldemort's power and it doesn't help that you were already so powerful before that. Well I'm sorry to say harry but the Ministry obviously must know."

"Mr Weasley's on it. I'm just worried that I either have to become completely emotionless or be forever worried I'm about to hurt my friends." Harry said, admitting the thing he was truly afraid of.

Dumbledore seemed to consider this before looking back to Harry.

"No, not necessarily." Harry's heart jumped at Dumbledore's words. "You must concentrate on adjusting to your new amount of power, as a child you managed to adapt to a large power source. I will help you of course, you can meet me here once a week and I will teach you to control it, it will take a long time and you will have to be patient."

Dumbledore seemed to consider something before continuing.

"I also think it might be beneficial for you to learn to become an animagus. That will take time effort and will allow you to reduce pent up power at strategic intervals as you learn to become one, which too will take patience though."

Harry was shocked by the suggestion. He had never really considered it before but now he thought about it it seemed like an excellent idea. The thought of being able to turn into an animal and disappear into the shadows and avoid anyone at any time sounded like a wonderful prospect.

He realised that Dumbledore seemed to be waiting for a reply.

"Yes of course, those are great ideas, what day and time should I come for my lessons?" Harry asked.

"What about 6 o'clock on a Thursday? I think the lessons won't be more than an hour or two so you shouldn't be out too late. I will inform Professor McGonagall that you will be coming as this is now her office after all. Now Harry you must get back to the Weasley's I assume you left in quite a hurry when you found out about all this and they may well be distressed, I will see you next Thursday."

Harry nodded, thanked the professor and left the office, his hopes much higher than they had been when he'd first entered the room.

 **A/N Okay I know what you guys are thinking. 'Seriously Carrie, where is the Harry/Ginny storyline going here? That's what were here for' and I know that's why I'm here too, I'm trying to set out the storyline a bit more but they are gonna be there, I just need to push this out the harbour a bit. Reviews are like chocolate cake, very close to my heart so I would be thrilled if anyone has any feedback good or bad because we all know the old saying:**

' **Any feedback is good feedback.'**

 **So hit me up.**

 **Carrie**


	4. D

**A/N Thank you to everyone who has been following and favouriting, you are all literal stars! At the end of my last chapter I said that I was going to include more Harry/Ginny because they haven't really had any moments so yeah things get a bit steamy, there's also gonna be a lil bit of Ron/Hermione because even though J.K has openly said she didn't think they would work out, I totally believe they would've. So without further ado…**

D – (From the point of view of Ginny Weasley)

 _She was running through the entrance hall her pulse loud in her ears, it couldn't be true, it just couldn't be true. She dashed through the open font doors just behind Hermione and Ron as they sprinted down towards the line of Death Eaters and then she noticed the body in Hagrid's arms, his wracking sobs confirming everything Voldemort had said. 'Harry Potter is dead'_

" _Harry! HARRY!" She screamed but the body didn't move and she broke down in tears, she tried to get to him but her father pulled her back. She struggled with him desperate to see if it was true but he held onto her tight_

" _Ginny, no." He whisper in her ear and she went limp, she felt numb and she suddenly had no desire to move or breathe or even live anymore._

 _Everything unfurled as it had done in real life but this time, at the end of Voldemort's speech Neville did not pull the sword from the hat, the centaurs and the reinforcements didn't come and Harry never got up. Instead Voldemort walked around killing everyone who would not join him and in the end Ginny was the only one left standing._

 _She came face to face with the snakelike man but one look at Harry's dead body inspired no desire to lift her wand and even attempt to stop him, instead she just felt empty, no thrill for being alive and when she declined the place in Voldemort's ranks her vision was filled with greenlight._

At that point Ginny would wake herself screaming.

Every night without fail she had the same nightmare at least twice a night and as such she hadn't slept properly in weeks. Ginny had asked Hermione to start cast a _muffliato_ charm on the door so as to not wake the rest of the house and another around Ginny so she didn't disturb Hermione, although Hermione left most nights to go to Ron anyway.

Hermione had asked many times what it was that gave her such terrible nightmares but she refused to say and eventually Hermione let it drop, because it wasn't so much the dying that terrified Ginny, it wasn't even the incredibly vivid lifeless body of the man she was in love with, it was her sudden inability to care about or try to save the people that, in her dream world, Voldemort would ultimately go on to kill that kept Ginny awake every night.

/

Ginny slumped back against the wall behind her bed, surrounded by bits of the belongings that had survived in her trunk. Unlike many others hers had been recovered from the sixth years girls dormitory at Hogwarts intact, most of her possession's had been fine but some of her books had been ruined and a pair of fur lined boots she had bought in her fifth year were no longer distinguishable.

Hermione was helping Ginny go through her things and fix the items that could be saved as Ginny couldn't legally use magic yet. Ginny was just rebinding a copy of _Bewitch and Befuddle, a witch's guide to revenge_ with spellotape when Ron walked in.

"Has anybody seen Harry?" He asked, worry etched on his face.

"I think he went to Andromeda's again." Hermione said with a sigh. "He's spent more time with her since he got back than with us." Hermione looked close to tears and Ron sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulders.

"I don't know what to do, I can't understand him and he refuses to tell me anything." Ron said to Hermione. "He wakes up in the morning, gets dressed goes over to Andromeda's and returns for dinner, of which he barely eats, before disappearing off for hours on end, when he is here he's reading but he always hides his books so I don't have a clue what he's studying. I haven't spoken to him properly in days, not that I haven't tried."

Ginny remained silent, Harry had been refusing to talk to her to and quite frankly she was getting more and more annoyed about it by the second. So yes they didn't have to date but he couldn't even look at her either? Was she that repulsive?

Ginny looked back down at her book, gripping it so tightly her knuckles were white before dropping it back to the bed and falling sideways so her head hit the pillow. The three of them sat, or in Ginny's case lay, in silence thinking their own thoughts before Ron muttered something to Hermione about promising to play Quidditch with her other brothers, kissing her cheek and trooping out.

Ginny looked at Hermione who was now smiling faintly as she went back to repairing Ginny's belongings.

"So how are things with you and Ron?" She asked, smirking when Hermione blushed.

"Good, great even. He's… I don't know how to explain it, he's easy to be with." She looked at Ginny's quizzical look before elaborating. "Like he knows when I'm upset, so he says the right things, we don't argue about stupid things anymore, he's promised to come to Australia with me to find my parents, and he's an excellent kisser…" Ginny grimaced. "… He's just been brilliant, I think I would've gone crazy without him over this past week if he hadn't been here."

"I'm really happy for you two, just please don't ever tell me anything about Ron or his kissing ability ever again."

Hermione laughed.

/

Ginny looked up at Harry as he walked out the door of the Burrow, her plate of food suddenly much less appealing because again, like every meal time since he had returned to the Burrow, Harry had asked to be excused from dinner. He always finished much earlier than everyone else, mainly because he barely touched his food and slipped away before anyone could even ask him where he was going.

Harry's behaviour was definitely upsetting the happy atmosphere Ginny had so naively thought would be present after the war.

Since Harry's return, at close to three in the morning, he had been distant. He had spoken privately to her parents and must've explained some kind of plan for his malfunctioning magic for them to relate over to Kingsley as both her parents were more relaxed. Whatever idea Harry had come up with must've been good, but she knew her parents to well and despite their easier smiles she recognised the worry in their eyes.

Hermione and Ron only knew as much as she did and that was simply that Harry had a plan but judging by the way Harry had been acting around her she doubted she'd ever find out what it was.

He had refused to look at her, avoiding her at all possible costs in the day and never sitting next to her at any meal times. He hadn't spoken to her since the night of the beach. Ginny had hoped that even if Harry didn't want to be with her they could at least still be friends but it felt like he didn't even want to look at her.

Ginny wouldn't go as far to say Harry was miserable but it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine it. She knew what was going through his head as it was the same thing that always seemed to be going through his head. That he was dangerous and that everyone got close to died. In fairness there wasn't much evidence to support the contrary besides her family.

She could see it in his eyes whenever he was around, the blame and the guilt but every so often he seemed to realise that he was getting upset and his face would shift back into being emotionless. He thought he was going to lose control of his magic and hurt someone and she couldn't stand it.

"Mum, can I be excused too?" She asked. Molly looked up and nodded silently before looking back down at her plate, pushing a piece of broccoli around.

She stood and walked straight out of the front door of the Burrow, following after Harry, he was only a couple of meters away but he hadn't noticed that he was being followed. She trailed after him for about 10 minutes, through the wood, past the paddock they played Quidditch in and into a small clearing.

"You know…" She said leaning casually back against a tree trunk and trying to resist a smile when he jumped at the sound of her voice. "…For the saviour of the wizarding world you really are letting your guard slip.

He turned to look at her and she raised her eyebrows at him, motioning for a reply.

"Well when you've killed or helped to imprison most of the bad men and women in the world you tend to assume you can walk into some woods without being worried about attack."

"Tut tut tut, what would Moody say, 'Constant Vigilance!' Surely it should be the contrary." She teased him.

It had gotten to the point that Ginny was pretty sure any relationship she had with Harry was broken beyond repair so why not have a bit of fun with him? It beat having serious boring conversations with him, Ginny after all hated being serious with a passion, she probably had the closest personality to the twins.

The memory of Moody seemed to make him smile a little but then there was the flash of guilt in his eyes and he turned away.

"Why did you follow me Ginny?" He asked quietly and she realised he was in no mood for joking. _Damn_ she thought.

"Because I wanted to scream at you for a bit." She answered truthfully. "Harry, your pushing us away, you won't speak to Ron or Hermione about whatever the hell is going on with your magic, you won't even look at me…"

"Oh and who's fault is that." He spat bitterly.

So not only did he not want to be with her but he was blaming their breakup on her? Oh boy was that not okay.

"You!" She shouted.

"Me! You were the one who said 'we were just a summer fling'"

"And you said that we were! That's what I was always worried you thought we were and then you confirmed it!"

"Well it sure didn't sound like it, it sounded like you cutting me off after having been the thought that literally kept me going for months on end!"

"No, it sounded like my heart shattering into millions of tiny pieces."

Ginny stopped abruptly as she realised what Harry was saying, he hadn't wanted to break up, he'd taken her to the beach in the hope that they'd get back together and she was the one who'd screwed things up. When she looked back up she met his eyes across the clearing and something in her mind seemed to click.

She strode forwards grabbing a fistful of Harry's robes and pushed him, none to carefully, back into the nearest tree her lips crashing down on his. He responded immediately his hands going from limp at his sides to on her cheek and neck, pulling her closer into him. Her hands were soon tangled in his black hair, messing it up even more than normal. The feel of finally kissing him how she had always wanted to kiss him was blissful.

She didn't know how long they were there locked up in their passionate embrace but she couldn't bring herself to care. She tried to convey how much she had missed him through the kiss and judging from his response she guessed the feeling was mutual.

His lips drifted from her mouth to her neck and she groaned, everything was soft and bright and perfect, why had she messed everything up? If she hadn't they could've been doing this days ago.

When they finally pulled apart his eyes were bright and he grinned for the first time since his return to the Burrow. She couldn't help the small glow of pride at knowing that she did that.

"Well definitely stop not being my boyfriend." She murmured.

"Definitely." He agreed, Harry suddenly paled, "What about your brothers though? What about Ron?! How the hell am I going to explain that?"

Ginny glared at a tree.

"Stupid overprotective brothers." She muttered under her breath, and then more loudly. "Harry, it's my life, if they don't like it they can go suck an egg."

Harry couldn't help but laugh at her defiant look.

"I'm good with that, but can I hide behind you?"

"Killed one of the most evil wizards of all time my arse."

"Hey! I can do evil overlords, protective brothers aren't my strong suite."

There was a pause as Ginny tried to think of a way to tell her brothers about Harry without them having a massive freak out over it.

"Maybe if we kept it a secret and then just wait for the first brother to find out…" She trailed off but she figured Harry got the picture.

"Sounds good to me." He murmured before kissing her again. It was a little while longer before they broke apart that time.

"Hey Harry?"

"Mmm." He murmured, his lips had once and drifted to her neck and she worried that he has going to give her a hickey before she realised that she didn't care.

"Can we go back to that beach?" She asked. He pulled away looking at her before shrugging and turned them both on the spot.

When they landed this time she stayed on her feet but she fell back deliberately pulling Harry back down on top of her. Again they spent however long locked in their embrace neither of them fussed about stopping until Ginny realised she had so many questions to ask him.

"Harry?"

"Yes."

She sat up and so did he and she leant into the crook of his shoulder.

"What been going on with your magic."

"Hermione explained it."

"Yes but what happened after that? What's been going on for the past week since then? None of us have seen you, Ron and Hermione are climbing the walls with anxiety, mum and dad are fretting, everyone's down. Please Harry you can tell me. I won't tell anyone if you don't want me too."

"I know." He murmured, she looked around, he was staring at the waves rolling in and out, he had sand in his hair and his glasses were askew, she reached behind her too put them straight and he began to explain. He told her about Dumbledore, his lessons of which he had had two. He told her about seeing Andromeda and Teddy. He explained everything but Ginny still had the vague feeling he wasn't telling her everything.

Ginny listened, noting that this seemed to have become the place in which he explained everything.

"I know you don't want to hear this Harry but I really do think you should tell Ron and Hermione, they're so worried about you and there hurt that you're not telling them anything."

"I know, and I will, I promise."

"Thank you." She said and he leaned down and kissed her cheek, both of them staring out towards the sea. "So what have you been doing with Dumbledore then?"

"Complex magic, the more so the better, it drains me and gives me a better control over the small stuff at the same time making it less likely for me to hurt anyone." He explained.

"Anything you can show me?" She asked.

He looked around before settling on the sea, a look of concentration came over his face and suddenly some of the water jumped into the air, flowing backwards and forwards making different shapes. Ginny sat with her mouth open and when the water finally fell back to the sea Harry chuckled at the look on her face.

"You're even more powerful than Dumbledore!"

"Nah, you just never saw him really angry." He joked. She gave him a look. "Fine, yes, but to be honest it's not a good thing if I can't get control of it."

"Yes but you will, with Dumbledore as your teacher what can't you learn?" She reassured him, patting his cheek. "So now you have all this new power you can do the small stuff wandless?"

"I don't think I really need a wand at all, the magic just seems to flow out of me, although I prefer using my wand." He answered.

"Perfect." She said, that meant they could o swimming and he could dry them off later, she dragged him to his feet, pulling him down the beach and pushing him straight into the waves, diving in after him.

They laughed and played in the waves in the bright sun, before Harry reminded her that they'd been gone over two hours and they needed to get back before the occupants of The Burrow got worried about them.

They left the waves and dried themselves off, curtsey of Harry, before turning on the spot and appearing back in the yard in front of the burrow, only in much higher spirits than the last time they had both apparated to this spot together.

 **A/N Told you I'd put more Harry/Ginny in for you, well it doesn't get much more steamy than that. Again thank you to everyone for the lovely comments they really do keep me going. Please tell me what your views are on this because good or bad I wanna hear, seriously, if you think this is the shittest fanfiction you've ever read and you want me to burn every single copy I have of it, I want to know, I'm fairly self-destructive like that.**

 **If you have any questions all you have to do is ask.**

 **Carrie**


	5. E

A/N Flubagabajaa

E – (Mainly from the point of view of Ginny Weasley)

Harry hand was slid smoothly into Ginny's as they walked towards the burrow, still both grinning as they thought happily over the events of the night. Ginny knew it was risky, someone could look out of the window at any moment but the thought of breaking contact with Harry was more worrying, she'd only just gotten him back and she didn't want to let go. They broke apart suddenly when the door to the Burrow of flung open and her Mothers fuming face appeared in the doorway. It was enough to take the happy grins right off their faces.

Her entire family and Hermione, sat around the large kitchen table (still baring the marks of Harry's anger, despite Mr Weasley's best efforts to remove them) and they all looked up when Ginny and Harry walked through the door, sending them wary warning looks.

There was silence.

Her mother broke it.

"Where have you two been?!" She snapped angrily. I've been going out of my mind with worry, you've been missing for over two hours with no explanation as to where you were going or what you were doing…" Mrs Weasley's rant continued for several minutes and Ginny and Harry stood in silence both feeling very guilty. "…With everything that's been going on with the war, how was I to know something hadn't happened to you?..."

"Mum."

"…It was irresponsible and I expect better from you Ginny and certainly you Harry..."

Ginny noticed Harry shift guiltily on the spot, looking at the floor.

"Mum."

"…Neither of you understand the emotional strain of parenthood when your children are disappearing left, right and centre, although I have no doubt that you will someday and I hope then at least you'll think of me and at least appreciate the stress! Neither have I been so disappointed in both of you…"

"MUM!" Ginny roared and Molly Weasley started, looking up at her daughter in surprise as all of the occupants around the table moved restlessly, a Ginny temper could be a very uncomfortable affair. But Ginny felt her mother's roughly 7 minute tirade was beginning to get unreasonable. "We're sorry, we forgot to message you, and we were just in the paddock talking."

Ginny's conscience didn't shrivel up at the lie because while she was bending the truth, technically they had been talking (amongst other things) just not in the location Ginny had said they had been.

Ginny couldn't help but notice that the twins had been grinning up at Harry and Ginny from the place at the table, side by side, since they had entered the room and had not stopped grinning even when Ginny's temper had flared. She nervously flattened her hair, which had been mussed up by Harry's hands, as she contemplated the possibility that her brothers had already worked out the real reason Harry and Ginny had been so late back. The action made twin's grins widen.

"Actually there's something I've wanted to tell everyone." Harry said, looking up from the floor, his arms crossed tightly over his chest as he spoke up out of the silence that had fallen after Ginny's apology. "Everyone here has been nothing but patient and supportive of me and it's been pointed out to me," Harry said looking over at Ginny with a sarcastic smile. "That I've been a bit of a git these past couple weeks."

"Just a bit." Fred and George piped up in unison.

"I'm not going to lie, it's a bit unusual. Basically after Hermione explained what was going on with my magic I went to Dumbledore's portrait for advice." Harry began to recount the same story he had told Ginny. "He agreed with Hermione saying it was the most logical explanation and suggested that I started to take lessons with him to help me control the new amounts of power that I have. He reckons over time I'll just adjust to it as I did when I was a baby and I first received power from him."

Harry started to speak again but he seemed to be struggling with the right words so Ginny decided to fill in the blanks.

"Then Harry started distancing himself from us because he thought he might hurt one of us if his emotions got out of control, but now that he's been doing his lessons for the past couple weeks he feels more comfortable being around us, even though of course he wouldn't have hurt us in the first place." She finished.

"When you say really powerful." Charlie began. "How powerful is that?"

"Um, I don't really know." Harry lied.

"Harry." Ginny muttered to him.

"Fine." Harry sighed, he began to speak very fast, "Once I've done my lessons with Dumbledore he believes I might be more powerful than him."

"More powerful than Dumbledore? Bloody hell Harry." Ron murmured, gawking at Harry along with everyone else.

"Stop staring." Ginny commanded noticing how uncomfortable Harry looked and everyone shifted in their seats again.

"Well I think that's enough drama for one night, everyone off to bed." Molly Weasley said. Everyone but Mr and Mrs Weasley trooped out, Mr Weasley reminding his wife that _she_ had caused half the drama.

As they walked up the stairs, a little way behind the rest of the family (enough to be out of earshot) Harry turned to Ginny, pausing on the creaking stairs.

"How did you know that stuff about me distancing myself trying to keep you guys safe?" He asked curiously. "I don't think I told you that."

"Isn't it obvious?" Ginny asked him with a smile. "You're Harry Potter. You're always more conscious of everyone else's safety than you are about your own happiness."

/

"Georgie?"

"Yes Freddie."

"Did you notice…"

"Something strange…"

"Between Harry and Ginny?"

"Yes."

"Well I don't know about you but I don't think they were just talking in the paddock."

"I was thinking the same thing brother dearest."

"Ah but how do we catch them."

"We don't let them know…"

"That we suspect something."

"This is going to be a lot of fun." Fred murmured.

The twins looked at each other and grinned before turning off the light in their room and drifting off to sleep, both still grinning.

/

Life in the burrow became much easier after Harry told everyone what was going on. He still went to Andromeda's most day but he didn't go for more than an hour or two and didn't leave meals early other than on Thursdays. He hung around with Ron and Hermione more making them infinitely happier and Hermione confided in Ginny that he had begun to act like Harry again, although he was still secretive with some aspects of his lessons with Dumbledore he openly talked to Ginny, Ron and Hermione about most of it and sometimes when Ginny begged he'd show her some of what he was up to.

He taken a seed from a nearby plant and caused it to grow and bloom right in front of her eyes before tucking it behind her ear, with no wand and no uttered words.

One of the things less easy was hiding her feelings for Harry around the rest of her family. With Harry talking to Ron and Hermione again they had few or no excuses to be alone together and it made them take more risks. Holding hands under the table at dinner, sneaking into abandoned rooms, Harry had even snuck into her room at night once or twice but had to leave after an hour in case Ron woke up and found him missing, much to their joint displeasure.

The most worrying thing was Fred and George. Ginny had a distinct feeling they knew something and Ginny was sure when they worked out what was going on the whole Burrow would know too. While Ginny knew this was an eventuality she had also enjoyed having their secret relationship.

Ginny's nightmares still plagued her and Harry had begun to comment daily on how tired she looked, but she shook off his questions telling him she was simply adjusting to life in the Burrow again.

It didn't become a real issue until the week after Harry and Ginny had started dating.

The four of them, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had been lying around in the large back garden in the shade of a tall oak tree by the pond. It was a pleasantly warm may day, Hermione and Ron had drifted away slightly and where skimming stones across the water surface and Ginny was so tired from the very little sleep she had been receiving that she had lane down on the ground, still mumbling conversation every once in a while. But the heat and calm atmosphere lulled her to sleep eventually and while she had only closed her eyes for a moment it had been a huge mistake.

Ginny's nightmares didn't stick to the night-time she discovered as she drifted through the dream once again, feeling much as though she were following the lines to an old play that she had memorised, but the emotion was still there. Naturally she had awoken screaming, surrounded by the other three.

"Ginny! GINNY!"

Ginny sat bolt upright, sticky from sweat and panting as Hermione and Ron drew away in shock. Harry remained right by her side, looking tense and apprehensive, and his hand on the small of her back rubbing soothing circles. She flopped back down with a moan.

"Ginny?"

She opened her eyes, trying the blink away the tears before anyone noticed but it appeared the damage was done. Three anxious faces looked down.

"Um, hi?" She said, flushing and sitting back up and shifting backwards slowly till she was pressed against the tree trunk, pulling her knees up to her chest and trying to avoid the three pairs of eyes. The embarrassment was crippling and she was sure that her face was radiating heat from the force of her blush.

"What on earth were you dreaming about?" Ron's shocked voice asked. She didn't need to look at Ron's face to see the worry

"Oh you know, same old stupid nightmares, nothing to worry about." She murmured. Ron stuttered ready to press her more but an elbow to the side from Hermione told him this was not the time, he looked at Ginny and Ginny knew that he didn't believe her lie and yet he stayed silent.

The group stayed together after that, all a bit too shaken by Ginny's screaming to want to split up again. Ginny did her best to stay completely awake and vowed to never fall asleep in public again, but she was so tired. It had been weeks since she'd had a good night's sleep and it was really beginning to take its toll.

Hermione and Ron gradually pretended to forget Ginny's episode but she knew Harry wouldn't, his eyes watched her for the rest of the afternoon, speaking very little, obviously thinking hard. She didn't know what he'd come up with that would be so different to everything she'd already thought of. Dreamless sleep potions were one thing she knew could help but if used too often they would begin to become ineffective, and the thought of never being able to use the potion again made her shudder.

The afternoon passed quietly enough and soon the group went inside to help with the preparation of dinner and Ginny hoped that everyone would forget about it even though she knew they wouldn't, the real question was whether Ron would tell the rest of her family.

/

"Hermione, Hermione" Harry called behind her as she walked up the stairs towards Ron's room. She turned and smiled at Harry but stopped when she noticed the distressed look hadn't vanished from his face since Ginny's nightmare.

"Harry, what can I do for you?" She asked.

"Can we talk somewhere privately?"

"Sure let's go to the kitchen." She murmured, looking at Harry concernedly.

Harry turned and they both walked back down the stairs into the vacant kitchen. Most of the Weasley children had trooped off to their respective rooms while Mr and Mrs Weasley, Charlie and Percy's voices could be heard coming from the sitting room, Mrs Weasley complaining loudly that she hadn't seen Bill for ages since he and Fleur had moved back to Shell Cottage. Apparently Fleur had agreed that Bill should go home to his family for a few weeks after the battle and that she had wanted to do the same but after she had returned she had 'dragged Bill away from his family'. Hermione could practically hear Mr Weasley shaking his head.

"What is it Harry?" Hermione said turning back to Harry.

"Um, see the thing is…" Harry squirmed and shifted on the spot before speaking very …"Ginny and I decided to get back together the other week, the night when we went missing for a couple hours." Harry told her in a fast slur.

Hermione couldn't suppress the smile that spread across her face.

"Took your time with that one didn't you." Hermione said grinningly slyly at Harry. "I didn't know how many more awkward meals I was going to have to sit through before you sorted yourself out. If I hadn't been so worried about you at the time I would've started a bet."

Harry smiled but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Hermione, I'm worried about her, she hasn't had a proper good night's sleep in weeks, She keeps pretending she's okay but she's not and I need your help with something."

"Harry, I don't know what you can do…"

"Hermione please!" He looked at her pleadingly "they were dreams like the ones I had, I'd wake up drenched in sweat, crying and shouting out, if anyone knows how to help her it's me." Harry gave her such a confidant look Hermione was swayed, she honestly didn't think there was anything Harry could do to calm Ginny's subconscious but she knew he should at least try.

"Okay Harry, but what do you want me for?"

Harry shifted awkwardly.

"Well, as of today you're the only person that knows as I'm not quite sure how Ginny's six protective brothers would take the news and I kind of need Ron distracted so he doesn't notice I'm missing…"

"Harry!"

"What? Oh wait no! No that wasn't what I meant! I just was hoping you could feed him some story about me sleeping downstairs for the night to give you guys some space or something. Merlin's beard not that."

Hermione looked at the startled look on Harry's face and she burst into a fit of giggles, Harry joining in when his shock finally passed.

"Could you maybe keep quiet about me and Ginny though, she reckons the twins already know but I'm not so sure, and, well it's been quite nice having this private thing to ourselves."

"I promise," She said, mock saluting him.

So when Hermione crept up to Ron's room later that night, slipping in when she was sure no one was looking she was quite hoping she wouldn't have to lie to Ron and in turn hoped that he wouldn't bring Harry up at all, but the first thing out of his mouth when she closed the door was

"Where's Harry?"

"Um, he's not sleeping here tonight." _Truth_

"Why?"

"He said he wanted to give us some space, he said he was going to sleep downstairs." _Truth, well those words did come out of his mouth._

"Huh, that's so thoughtful of him." Ron paused. "You know he was really worried about Ginny today, seemed really rattled by the whole thing."

"Weren't you?"

"Of course but she's my sister, I don't even know what's going on between them, I was sure they were going to get back together when this was all over, it was one of my first thoughts, that I was going to have to endure them being all over each other." Ron paused and looked at Hermione who had sat down on the bed next to him. "It's weird how things work out."

"I'm sure things will sort themselves, if it's meant to be..." Hermione trailed off, not sure whether she should continue but he was her boyfriend and she realised she wanted him to know. "I'm going over to Australia at the beginning of July, to find my parents, I don't know how long it will be, could be a day, could be a month but I have to go."

"That's great!" Ron said enthusiastically. "Of course you have to go, I'll come with you if you want, keep you company."

"Really? You'd do that for me?"

"Of course I would silly." Ron said with a smile "What would I do without you for a month."

/

Ginny was lying on her bed, she was wearing the pyjamas her mother had bought her for Christmas some years ago, they were plaid bottoms with a purple tank top and her hair was up in a messy bun. She crawled beneath the covers but found that she received no comfort from the soft sheets she had been so fond of. Every night since she had come home this bed had become a prison in which she was forced to view her deepest fear, that Harry was dead.

Viewing it once in the real world, when she had truly believed Harry to be gone was bad enough, but to revisit those dreadful memories every night in painstaking detail was torture.

She was about to get up to turn out the light (curse her not being 17 yet) when Harry slipped into her room already in his pyjamas and beat her too it, the light clicked out and she felt the covers being drawn back as Harry got into the bed with her.

It still made her heart pound when she realised the guy she had been in love with for so long was in bed with her, pulling her close into his chest, his arms snaking round his middle and his lips trailing butterfly kisses along her jaw when she realised he was _in bed_ with her and then the furious blushing began. She was glad he had switched off the lights.

Ginny was then slightly distracted by Harry's lips and when she looked at the time again almost an hour had passed and Ginny groaned.

This was her least favourite part of the night, when Harry had to leave, she felt so alone and she mentally scolded herself. Co-dependence was something she always loathed about couples, when two people became so intertwined that they couldn't spend a moment alone, she despised it and promised herself to never become like that.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked and the concern in his eyes was touching.

"Nothing, it's just that you should probably get going, it would be a bit of an awkward situation if we were both to fall asleep."

"Aw but that's what I was hoping would happen." Harry said, smiling and lying back down and closing his eyes, folding his arms behind his head.

Ginny frowned.

"Harry? That would literally be the stupidest thing we could do."

"Okay," Harry sat up and looked at her as though he was bracing himself to deliver bad news. "Please don't murder me but…" Harry began but Ginny interrupted him.

"You know a sure fire way to make me worried is to start a sentence with the words 'please don't murder me'" She said with a weak smile.

"But," Harry started again purposefully. "I told Hermione about us."

"What?! Why? Why would she need to know? I thought we were going to keep it a secret for now, you know, our little thing. But if Hermione knows she'll tell Ron and then everyone will know. Harry why the hell would you tell her?!" Ginny said frantically sitting bolt upright and staring at Harry in shock.

"Ginny, please calm down!" He said, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. "I told Hermione so she could convince Ron I was elsewhere so I could spend the night with you, she's been sworn to secrecy and promised not to tell and to be honest, Hermione told me she already suspected we'd get together in the end, it wouldn't have taken her long to work out. It's still a secret, only we and Hermione know."

"Oh, okay then." Ginny said lamely, lying back down onto Harry's chest when he lay down.

"Come on lets go to sleep."

"I used to enjoy going to bed, sleeping, now I hate it because I know soon the nightmares will come and I'll be up again for another restless night." Ginny confided.

"Your nightmares are like the ones I used to have. I can help you, will help you. I promise."

"But how?"

"I don't know." Harry murmured.

Ginny realised that even if she did have another restless night at least Harry would be there and with that happy thought she curled up into his side and drifted off to sleep.

 **A/N Hey guys, sorry about the slow updating, I'm a terrible human being, I know. Please review and read on, more chapters will be coming, hopefully with more speed than this one did. Thanks to everyone who has sent me words of support, you've kept me going and as always keeeeeep dancing.**

 **Carrie**


	6. F

**A/N I'm actually quite impressed with how much I've committed to this story, again I'm sorry about the time it's taking to update so thank you for your patience! I am also sooooo sorry about how long is taking me to update, but you know, GCSE year stress makes it a little difficult to pop out chapters regularly!**

E – (Mainly from the point of view of Harry Potter)

Harry stirred gently as morning light filtered in through the thin curtains over Ginny's window and he smiled down at girl sleeping on top of his chest thinking he would be a very lucky man if he could wake up this way every morning. He still couldn't quite believe he had managed to rope such a beautiful girl into being his girlfriend as he played with some of the vibrant red hair that had escaped from her bun during the night.

Ginny's eyes cracked open and she smiled gently before he eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright.

"Oh Merlin! I didn't have a nightmare!" She yelped grinning at Harry.

"Nope." He said smiling back down at her.

"You! How?! How did you stop them?!" She exclaimed.

"I hoped, I didn't know," he added quickly. "But I hoped that if you were relaxed, happy and empty-minded when we went to sleep you wouldn't have the dreams, it's called Occlemency, I'm terrible at it but you seem to be much better." He said with a grin, tucking a loose hair behind her ear and kissing her forehead, I better get downstairs before someone else does." He said with a sigh and he grudgingly crawled out of the bed, pulling a t-shirt over his head and then proceeded to make his way downstairs to the lounge as quietly as he could.

After rumpling one of the sofas into a vaguely slept-in look he went into the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee and he was just looking over the quiet yard when Mrs Weasley bustled in and began to make breakfast, pausing briefly to attempt to flatten Harry's hair into submission but giving up with a huff. Harry marvelled at the fact that she had to reach now to get to his hair.

"You've gotten far too tall this past year dear, probably all that running around without enough food for a growing lad, I bet your all skin and bones!" Mrs Weasley muttered, prodding his stomach for good measure before proceeding to start cracking multiple eggs into a frying pan promising to feed him up properly. Harry had to step in when she tried to crack a sixth egg for him.

"Mrs Weasley, would it be okay if Ron, Hermione and me went to Diagon Alley? Maybe Ginny if she wants to come. We need to go make amends with Gringrott's and I know Hermione's itching for some new books, not to mention all my clothes are in shreds."

Over the year all Harry's, Ron's and Hermione's clothes had been ripped and mended, stained and cleaned and torn and patched. Even Hermione's expert abilities hadn't been able to stop the clothes becoming tattered due to the sheer number of times the mending, cleaning and patching process had had to be performed. Harry was down to his last decent pair of jeans and t-shirt.

"Well if you all stay together and are safe…" Mrs Weasley trailed off, not looking too happy about the idea.

"I'll keep them safe Mrs Weasley." Harry promised.

"I know Harry, it's just his supporters are still out there and I worry about you, Ginny's not even allowed to use magic yet!"

"I think I'd scare off any remaining supporters pretty quickly." Harry said, Mrs Weasley snorted.

"Okay then, just…"

"…Constant Vigilance." Harry answered with a weak smile.

/

At around 10 o'clock that morning Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were gathered in front of the fireplace in the living room of the Burrow, ready to depart for Diagon Alley. Harry knew he wasn't the only one curious about the state of the popular shopping destination, the last time he'd seen it he had been about to break into Gringrott's or riding on the back of a dragon and on both occasions he had been slightly distracted whether by nervousness or terror.

Harry watched as Ron and then Hermione disappeared into the green flames one after the other leaving Harry and Ginny alone for a minute that was filled with several short and sweet kisses in the empty room before Ginny stepped backwards away from him dropping some floo powder into the grate as she went, still smiling at him seductively as the green flames leapt up around her, disappearing as she said the words 'Diagon Alley' that were lost in the roaring of the flames.

Harry had to take a moment for his heart rate to slow down before he followed Ginny's footsteps to the grate and he too felt the familiar sensation of travelling by floo, before stumbling out of the grate in the leaky cauldron, quite proud of himself for not falling over.

Harry realised he had walked into a very odd scene. Ron, Hermione and Ginny were surrounded by people who all seemed to have frozen in the process of shaking their hands or slapping them on the back. One witch had pulled Ginny into a hug and there were tears streaming down her face, but instead of looking at Ron, Hermione or Ginny as Harry assumed they had been, every face in the room was turned to look at Harry in all his sooty glory. Harry realised the pub was completely silent for a few seconds because suddenly he was surrounded by noise as the occupants of the pub burst into a large smattering of applause, cheering and whooping, many people bustling forwards to shake his hands and everyone just seemed to want to touch him. Harry's cheeks were burning and he could see Ginny, who had been released by the crying witch, laughing at him out of the corner of his eye.

To his relief, Tom the bartender moved forwards and broke up the crowd, leading the teenagers out into the small court yard that disguised the entrance way to Diagon Alley.

"I'm sorry about the ambush," Tom murmured to Harry. "But you can hardly blame them really..." He tailed off, then as though he was fighting an impulse he grabbed Harry's hands and wrung them "A lot of my friends were at that battle and you saved all of them, and most of the wizarding world, thank you." And dabbing his eyes, the barkeeper turned on his heel and disappeared back into the pub.

Harry blinked in shock before turning to see almost identical looks on his three companions faces, it was clear none of them had expected that. Ginny broke the silence.

"Harry you really need to learn to deal with adoring fans, you went so red in there you resembled a burnt beetroot. Here." And she flicked her wand over him muttering a cleaning spell that caused the soot on him to jump off of him.

"Thanks." He said with a smile.

"Ginny! You're not supposed to do magic till your birthday!" Hermione squealed, looking horrified.

"Hermione calm down, we're in a very magically populated area, nobody will notice that small spell, and she's in company with two wizards and a witch who are of age, nobody will know about it." Ron said to Hermione with a small smile as she gapped at him. "Just don't do it again." He added to Ginny who had been grinning triumphantly.

"You've only got to survive another two months." Harry said quickly when he noticed Ginny's expression sour. He was pretty sure he heard her murmur that it was easy for him to say but it was masked by the grinding sound of the bricks shifting that Hermione had caused by tapping the appropriate bricks in the wall with her wand to open the gateway.

The group stepped through the archway and gasped.

Diagon Alley was a riot of colour and excitement once more. Many of the shops that Harry noticed had closed were open once again including Ollivander's, Gambols and Japes (although they were rapidly being over shone by Weasley Wizard Wheezes) and Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, whose display for the past year had featured only black robes was once again filled with colour. Apart from Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, everything seemed to be returning to normal, although even Fortescue's looked like it was in the process of renovation. After stopping in to check on Mr Ollivander quickly, under Harry's insistence, the quartet headed down to the marble building that was Gringrott's and Harry's stomach flipped nervously.

As he walked he could feel the stares and hear the whispers and he groaned under his breath knowing that it would forever be part of his life. Because Diagon Alley was so busy the group were walking very close together, so when Ginny's hand slipped into his it was masked by their cloaks billowing around them. Despite himself Harry smiled.

They were forced to break apart however when they actually climbed the steps of the bank and were confronted by an elderly goblin who informed them that his name was Tinfen and that they had been waiting for them.

Harry gulped.

They were led, by Tinfen, into a small room towards the back of the hall, away from the grandeur of the marble and gold, through a doorway Harry had never noticed before. They entered into a long corridor with many doors, all on the wall facing him, spaced at regular intervals, and Harry realised the corridor must have run parallel behind the hall. As Harry filed into the room behind the third door on the right, behind Ron and Hermione, he noted that the room was small but lavish before his musings were distracted by Tinfen's scraping voice.

"No you must not." The small goblin croaked gesturing his long fingers at Ginny who had been about to enter into the room.

"Why not." Harry demanded, his stomach was churning uncomfortably at the thought of Ginny being out of his sights, what if they punished her for his crimes?

"I was informed to bring the golden trio…" Harry grimaced at the name. "…to this door, I don't know what will happen behind it but three must enter, not four." Tinfen muttered. The goblins beady eyes noticed the concerned looks between the four. "She will come to no harm, you have my word."

"I'll be fine guys, I need to talk about setting up my own vault for when I'm 17 anyway." Ginny reassured them. Harry didn't like the idea of leaving her but he knew he had no choice.

"Be safe." He murmured to her, she smiled and retreated further back out into the corridor. Harry turned around and walked towards the chairs in the middle of the rather curious room. The ceiling was low, so much so that although Harry and Hermione were just about alright Ron was having to duck his head to avoid smacking it into the ceiling. There was a fire roaring in the grate but despite this the room didn't seem any warmer than the corridor outside. The furniture was all dark varnished wood and dark green upholstery and Harry assumed this was one of the grander consultation rooms.

He would have been honoured if he wasn't so anxious.

The trio sat themselves upon three rather uncomfortable, straight backed seats in front of the large desk, behind which was another three seats, although these looked much more lavish and comfortable than the one Harry's arse was having to deal with.

He heard Ron's mutterings and assumed he was dealing with the same discomfort. Hermione probably was too but judging by her anxious fiddling she was too worried to actually think about it.

At last the door behind them opened and they all stood, Ron remembering the low ceiling just in time to avoid damaging himself, and spun around to watch as three rather grand looking goblins walked in.

They walked single file towards the desk lead by the eldest looking, although he was nowhere near as old as Tinfen. They wore expensive looking suits and once they were seated they all adopted rather pensieve looks.

"Well, thank you for joining us today." Said the lead Goblin. They introduced themselves as Naket, Lyben and Senjest and they were brothers who had recently taken over Gringrott's after the death of their father.

"As you are probably aware this meeting is mainly to do with the break in that was, as I understand, at your hands." Naket began. He spoke very softly yet it was not difficult to hear what he said, even over the crackle of the fire.

"Mainly?" Harry asked.

"We'll get to that." Said Lyben sharply, who clearly did not like it when anyone interrupted his brother. Harry's mouth snapped shut.

"As I was saying, I do take it that it was you three that broke into the Lestranges vault earlier this year?" None of them daring to speak, the three nodded and Harry opened his mouth to explain that the necessity for breaking into the vault had topped the moral reasons not to, but he was once again silenced by another look from Lyben.

"You see." Spoke the third goblin, who since announcing his name had stayed silent. "We are going to, very leniently assume that the only reason you stole that particular item was to do with the war effort and defeating you-know-who and overlook or simply ignore any other reasons to the contrary, I mean, why else should you should possibly feel the need to break into such a high security vault?" Senjest said, Harry remembering his name as he spoke, with a very pointed look. "In fact, we don't want to know." He added quickly as he saw Harry's mouth open to explain themselves.

"Wait what? Why are you letting us off?" Hermione asked shocked. Ron turned to look at her with a look of utmost horror on his face. "Well why?" She said, turning from Ron to the goblins. "The three people who've ever managed to break into Gringrott's, successfully steal an item and get away are at your mercy and you're just going to overlook that? It doesn't make sense." Ron was now hitting his forehead with the heal of his hand as both he and Harry had noticed the goblins expressions becoming more and more stony.

"Because, Miss Granger." Lyben said through gritted teeth and with such contempt that Hermione actually shrank back into her seat. "If you hadn't noticed, you three saved most of the wizarding world and we rather think that if we tried to throw you into Azkaban most of the wizarding world would have something to say about it." He finished venomously.

It was clear in Harry's mind that Lyben would have rather liked to have taken on the wizarding population to see the three of them on their way to a cell. The cool composure that he had adopted had melted away and all Harry could see was the very angry goblin underneath. Naket placed a hand on his brother's arm and he immediately regained his composure.

"As my brother has said, regardless of whether or not we want you arrested," the goblin gave a very pointed look to Lyben, "We know that any such endeavour to have you arrested would not be fruitful, therefore we simply ask you be courteous to the damage you caused and donate at least some money to help us rebuild.

"Of course." Harry said without a thought.

"Wonderful." Said Naket with no emotion. "Now that that is sorted we would like to speak to Mr Potter privately."

Ron and Hermione looked at Harry who shrugged and watched as the two of them left the room, Tinfen appearing to open the door just in time for Ron to reach for it, from what Harry saw he was pretty sure Ginny was still outside with him. But the door closed with the soft clunk and Harry turned to the three goblins once more who suddenly appeared much more intimidating when it was just him alone with them. The books in the shelf started to rattle and Harry immediately realised what was happening and took several deep breaths and imagined building the banks around his magic a little higher. He needed to get better control.

The goblins regarded the shelf and turned to look at Harry.

"I see fame isn't the only thing you inherited from you-know-who when you killed him." Said Naket with a curious look at Harry. Harry's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to make up a lie or an excuse but the goblin raised his hand. "Mr Potter, this room as you may have noticed is a consultation room, anything that is said or happens in this room cannot be passed on without your express permission. Anyway, Sanjest has several things he would like to discuss with you."

To Harry's surprise both Naket and Lyben got up from their seats and began to make their way to the door before exiting without a word.

"Now Mr Potter you are in my hands and I am sad to say this meeting is long overdue."

"I'm sorry."

"I highly doubt, Mr Potter, that your reason for not being here was due to factors that you could control. I understand that you had more important things on your mind, but you see, when you came of age last July you inherited several things that while you owned on paper, you did not in material effects." Sanjest explained.

The goblin removed two large scrolls of parchment from a desk draw and laid them on the polished wood.

"The last wills and testaments of Mr Sirius Orion Black and of Mr and Mrs James and Lily Potter." The goblin said as he unrolled the scrolls. "As you may know, you are the main benefactor in both these wills however you do not actually become entitled to the possessions until you become of age."

"Wait, I know about Sirius's will, but I've already got everything I have of my parents." Harry interrupted.

"Actually you do not. The money you have in your vault is simply a," The goblin paused for a moment, apparently searching for the right word, "'trust-fund' if you will. The actual Potter vault is much larger and contains the rest of your money, you also now own the Potter manor, I believe your parents were set to move into the manor but after the death of his father Mr Potter found it too difficult and they chose the place in Godric's Hollow, although that is not far from the manor. Technically you own that too but it is slightly damaged and I personally would not recommend living there. Some of the more priceless antiques and items of jewellery from the manor are currently in the Potter vault and the 'trust-fund' money was moved to the Potter vault on your birthday."

Harry sat stunned.

"Now as for Mr Black," Senjest started again. "We would have moved all the money and possessions on your birthday to the Potter vault however his will did not instruct us to do so as your parents did so we have to seek your permission to do so." The goblin looked up from the will he was studying in front of him.

"Er, yes, that would be great thanks." He murmured, Sanjest nodded and wrote something on a piece of parchment before throwing it into the fire. "The process will begin immediately, it should be finished in a couple of minutes, so in the meantime…" The goblin withdrew a box from the same draw he had taken the wills and presented it in front of Harry.

Harry reached forward and took the small, wooden box in his hands opening it and finding inside it a key and a ring.

"The key is to the manor house, I hope you appreciate that it is mearly symbolic you could open the manor with magic should you wish but as soon as you touch the key the wards will be taken down so I wouldn't do so just yet. It is what has been protecting the manor from muggles and the likes. The ring is the signet ring for the house of Potter. There is one made for every male in the line, that one however was your fathers."

Harry's throat had suddenly become very tight. He had been so sure that he had everything of his parents worth having and still there was more to find, he slipped the ring onto his finger and he felt that it looked like it belonged there, the small coat of arms very comforting on his fingers.

"We unfortunately do not have the key to the Black manor as it was left to Narcissa Malfoy but there is a town house, a number 12 Grimauld Place, at which they usually resided however we have neither the details nor location of this…"

"I know where it is." Harry interrupted. The Goblin looked at Harry for a moment before speaking again.

"Well then I have discussed everything I wished to discuss, the transition process should be over and if you wish you can remove some money from your vault you may do so."

"Yes thank you, please take however much you need to fix our damage." The goblin looked up faintly surprised. Harry was pretty sure his 'trust-fund' alone could pay for it and since he apparently now had a two whole fortunes as well he was pretty sure he could afford it.

"Thank you Mr Potter, that is very generous." The goblin said and Harry felt that he was being regarded slightly differently. "Please make your way back to the hall."

Senjest did not move from the desk where he was packing away the wills and Harry got up from the chair and left the office, muttering his thanks and clutching onto the box he had received. Tinfen was waiting outside the door with Hermione, Ron and Ginny and as they made their way back to the hall he was bombarded with questions. They only ceased when they were in the cart on the way down to the vaults.

They went to the Weasley vault first, Harry was pleased to see it was much fuller than the last time he had seen it, what with Mr Weasley's promotion and Mrs Weasley only having to look after one child when the rest were feeding themselves. Both Ginny and Ron took a couple of galleons, sickles and knut's and then they were back into the cart to hurtle down to the Potter vault, which Harry had just explained to them about when they had been taken to the cart.

It was much deeper down in the vaults not far, Harry would wager, from the Lestrange vault that they had robbed. When the door was finally opened by Tinfen Harry was not the only one who gasped. The vault was huge, even larger than the Lestrange's. There were heaps upon heaps of money on one whole side of the room. There must have been well over several millions of galleons alone, which Harry realised made sense when he thought about the fact that he had inherited two extensive family fortunes. On the other side of the room there were many items of beautiful furniture; vanity tables, chest of draws even a chaise, all made from very expensive varnished woods.

There was a large dressing table in the corner that was overflowing with jewellery. Rings, Bracelets, earrings, necklaces, the lot and none seemed complete without several diamonds.

"Oh man, you owe me the biggest, bestest Christmas present ever." He heard Ron chuckle from outside the vault.

Harry looked up the mountain of galleons.

"Definitely." He said.

/

Later on they were sat outside a new café that had opened up near Eyelops Owl Emporium. Ginny, Ron and Hermione had each set up their own personal vaults and they had all exchanged some wizard money for some muggle currency under Ginny's insistence because, after the year they had been through, they all needed some new casual clothes. After having ventured into the muggle world and each of them bought a few news items of clothing, (Ginny bought several more than a few) they had returned to Diagon Alley, Hermione dragging them into the new café because she was pretty sure they did muggle drinks and she hadn't had a milkshake in years. Harry quite firmly bought the drinks.

So with Hermione happily sucking away at a strawberry milkshake and Ginny too, under Hermione's insistence that they were one of the greatest drinks ever, Ron with a butterbeer and Harry with a coke, something he'd not had in a long time either, the four friends drank in the afternoon sunshine, quite content with the world. aHarr

 **A/N I am sorry about the truly horrific goblin names, I'm not very good at coming up with names for human characters let alone non-human characters! Okay don't bite me or anything but I totally believe that Hermione adores milkshakes but can only have them when she's at home, I don't know why but that is one of my head cannons and fanfics are where head cannons come to life so suck it. I'm sorry it's been taking me so long to update but I'm a terrible human being. I also know this was quite a slow chapter and it was missing a lot of Hinny, so you guys have a double order for the next chapter. Yup extra fluff for Chapter G!**

 **Carrie**


	7. G

**A/N Sorry about the slow updates! Thank you very much to everyone who has been reviewing you honestly keep me going! I've been having lots of questions recently which I love so I decided to answer a question that kept popping up publically so, without further ado, I introduce…**

Popular Question Time: What's the big deal with Fred and why did you keep him alive?

Well first of all Fred and George are my favourite characters out of the whole franchise and Fred's death really upset me and to be honest I felt it was unnecessary for the storyline. It would've been horrific for George and I feel like if I ever did a more canon story where Fred did die I would either have to pretend it was all fine which wouldn't really do the story justice or it would be super depressing. I mean what with Fred and George being identical, George would be a constant reminder of what the family would have lost and I feel like after the war George would've been very distant, thrown himself into his work at the joke shop and had very little contact with his family other than through Ron who eventually went to work at the shop. This in turn would've made all the other Weasley's miserable, especially Mrs Weasley and I don't honestly feel I could write that without bumming myself and everyone else out.

Secondly I felt like Fred's death would've destroyed Harry because, to me at least, the Weasley's were always a sign that Harry wasn't as toxic as he thought he was and the Weasley's were always there to remind him that the deaths that occurred weren't his fault. I feel like it would've been years before Harry could look at the Weasley's without feeling guilty and even longer before he could think about having a relationship with Ginny, which doesn't really work for this fic either.

Obviously these are just my personal views on what I think would've happened, I know JK went down the whole 'all was well' road which I personally disagree with, but what with her being the author and all I can't really diss it, but if I wrote a canon story after the war this is roughly what it would look like and hence why I haven't.

 **Sooo, now that I've bored y'all half to death I will continue with the story because I know that's why you're really here, or at least I hope it is.**

Chapter G – (From the point of view of Harry Potter)

Harry looked up at the clock on the mantle and back down at his watch to check that they both read the same time. He couldn't be late tonight, he needed to be on time or they wouldn't have time, he'd waited too long for this and he needed to do it right.

His knee started to bounce.

"Harry could you please concentrate on the bloody game." Ron growled. "I like winning but when you don't even try it takes the fun out of the defeat."

Harry looked away long enough to glare at his Ron, stare down at the chess board without really seeing it and mutter for one of his pawns to move forward before looking back up at the clock. Harry heard Ron muttering mutinously under his breath and looked down to see a small pile of the pieces that had previously been his pawn. Ha didn't even flinch he just looked back up at the clock.

Ron sighed but continued on with the game and had him beat within two moves. Harry barely acknowledged his loss and stood up, pacing.

"Harry will you stop!" Ginny barked at him and he looked up, mid pace, startled. "You're wearing holes in the carpet. What in the name has got you so worked up?"

"It nothing, nothing." He muttered distractedly sitting down next to her on the sofa, now playing with a hole in his jumper. Ginny grabbed his wrist, looking up from the book that had been draped across her lap. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"What are you going to be doing tonight?"

"It's difficult to explain..."

"Why don't you try?"

"Uh, it would probably just be easier to show you tomorrow…"

"Tomorrow?"

"Trust me Gin, it's nothing dangerous, I'll be fine, it's all under control..."

"Tomorrow?!"

"I promise."

Ginny looked very unsure and he would've kissed her, in fact he was leaning into do so when Hermione hiccupped behind him and he remembered his present company. Ron was staring at the two of them between narrowed eyes and Harry stood up so fast he almost hit Ginny in the face.

Harry looked down at his watch and made a noise in his throat. He was a minute late.

"Did you just squeak?"

"I beg your pardon?" He asked spinning round to look at Ginny.

"You, you squeaked!"

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Children please." Hermione said, finally looking up from her book and glancing down at her own watch. "Harry your now two minutes late, go."

With a final glare at Ginny, who stuck her tongue out at him, he backed away into the green flames that sprung up as he threw the powder down at his feet and muttered his destination.

/

Harry stumbled out of the fireplace in the headmaster's room of Hogwarts. McGonagall was sat in the chair behind the desk as usual, ruffling through papers and although she neither looked up nor even acknowledged Harry's presence he knew she knew he was there.

"Good evening Mr Potter." She murmured behind the stack of papers.

"Evening professor. How's the repairing of the school going?"

"Quite well, we will be up and running for the new school year. I assume I will see you returning."

"Am I allowed to come back? I missed out on my seventh year."

"Exactly, as did many whether it was because they were pulled out or in hiding. That is why we are offering the seventh year back. I doubt we will have a particularly large school population as many will be timid to return for a while so I don't feel we'll have many issue fitting the seventh years in with the eighth years."

"Wow, well yes I guess I do need to come back, if I want to be an auror…"

McGonagall snorted.

"Potter, the auror department would take you on blind, regardless of grades, I mean you did kill the darkest wizard of all time, but is that really what you want to do? Mr Potter you've been chased and have chased dark wizards your whole life. Why would you continue now that you don't have the burden of Voldemort on you anymore? You're a natural born Quidditch player and an excellent teacher if your fifth year is anything to judge by. Don't re-enter a world of danger again unless you really want to."

With that McGonagall stood, bade Harry goodnight and walked away into the bedroom adjoining the office. Harry stood for several moments thinking about what McGonagall had said. Why should he thrust himself back into danger, he loved Quidditch and he had adored teaching, sure the idea of a life without danger was slightly foreign but why shouldn't be happy like everyone else?

"Harry?"

Dumbledore's words jumped him and he blinked back into reality.

"Shall we get on with tonight's activities?" The portrait asked. "I take it you've followed all the steps correctly."

"Yes, mandrake leaf in the mouth for a month, then use that leaf in the Sychondris potion and gargle in the morning every day for a week. All I have to do now is sleep in the light of a waxing moon."

"I suggest you use the Astronomy tower as a place to sleep. In the morning you should be able to begin practising the transformation. It will take time to learn how to control it."

"Yes Professor, well I guess I'll get going, goodnight."

"Goodnight Harry."

Harry walked out of the office still littered with all the unusual, and wonderful, magical items that had been there in Dumbledore's day and down the revolving staircase. As he walked through the corridors he could still see the signs of damage and destruction but it was looking even better than the week before. All the debris that had scattered the floor was gone now and the windows all had the right amount of glass in them. The walls still had burn marks and chunks missing but there was no longer any trace of blood.

Harry walked up to the astronomy tower recalling memories here and there. It felt like an age since he had walked the halls and the thought that he would be able to do so in only a couple of months had him practically skipping down the corridors with glee. He would finally have a normal year at Hogwarts and though the thought was a rather strange one it was not at all unwelcome. Butterbeer in Gryffindor common room, feasts in the great hall, Quidditch.

By the time he had made it to the top of the Astronomy Tower he was almost hyperventilating with excitement but he immediately tried to calm down. He had to make sure he could fall asleep otherwise the months of preparation would go down the drain. He transfigured a small stone on the ground into a comfy armchair, not unlike one of those in Gryffindor tower and settled down into it, pulling out a sleeping drought that he had made the week before in his session with Dumbledore, uncorking it and throwing it back, grimacing at the sour taste.

Dumbledore had reassured him that by taking to the potion he would still be woken up by the transformation. The last step to becoming an animagus was simple. He had to sleep in the light of a waxing moon. At midnight when the moon reached the peak he would wake up in his animagus form and from then on he would have to practise his transformations until he could do them naturally and without effort.

Dumbledore had been right, the entire process to get to this point had been awfully draining on his magical ability and for that Harry had been grateful. As his lessons continued Harry had learnt to control his new found power better, Dumbledore had instructed him to imagine his magic as a flowing river, when his emotions got the better of him the river would begin to flood and he had to build the banks up higher. The issue was that Harry couldn't practise very easily because he couldn't get falsely emotional and it meant for very stressful situations but he was getting there.

As the potion began to take effect Harry began to drift off and, although it was sluggish, his last thought was a rather excited one about the animal he would soon wake up as.

/

Harry was woken by a very sudden intense pain all over his body. His eyes snapped open long enough to see himself shrinking and changing colour and shape. It was hard to actually focus on any of the changes though through the pain.

It was like white hot fire all over his body and he could feel as his bones began to shrink and change inside his skin, he would of screamed but his mouth and voice her changing and instead of a shout he let out a high pitched, shrieking sound.

The pain began to fade slightly long enough for Harry to open his eyes again, as they had been tight shut but his vision had changed, he saw much less colour around him but he could see quite clearly into the grounds below him, something that was quite impossible in the dark with human eyes. Harry swung his arms and if he had had a jaw it would have dropped.

Spread out in front of him was a beautiful wing, covered in white, slightly flecked feathers and they practically glowed in the night. He stuck out a foot that had become scaly and was equipped with talons and Harry let out another weird shriek.

An owl.

It made perfect sense. He adored flying with his broomstick and Hedwig had been his first true friend, he had thought that perhaps, what with his patronus being a stag, his animagus might be a stag too but he was so much more delighted with the form he had become. He hopped up onto the ledge that ran around the astronomy tower and looked out over the ground, his heart beating fast from the exhilaration.

It seemed like an incredibly stupid idea to throw himself over but at the same time his body seemed to be screaming towards it. Without a second thought Harry launched himself into the open air, spreading his wings to catch himself and marvelled at how natural it all felt as the wind blew through his feathers. It was better than anything he had ever felt on a broomstick because he was supporting himself and the control he felt was wonderful.

Quite suddenly he shifted back into his human form and he began to fall very fast towards the earth, yelling all the way but he slipped back into his animagus form and caught himself with large wings feeling more natural with it all the time.

He figured that he should alert Dumbledore about his progress and he began to swoop back towards the tower that the Head's office was in.

Slipping through an open window Harry landed with a rather undignified thump on the desk, making a mental note to practise landing. The portraits snored in there frames and none of them noticed the owl sat on the desk. Harry let out a soft hoot but nothing happened, he tried again a little louder but still Dumbledore did not wake, he let out a sharp shriek and Dumbledore jolted awake looking down at him.

"Hmmm." Dumbledore murmured smiling benignly down at him. "Now we are in a rather awkward situation in which I have no idea whether you are an owl here for professor McGonagall or… Hmm are you Harry? It could make sense for him to be an owl, such a natural flyer..." Dumbledore trailed off. "If you are Harry please could you hoot for me three times?"

Harry did so.

"Wonderful. Now as I assume you are realising transforming backwards is the most difficult the first time." Harry shuffled on the desk "…and after that it gradually becomes easier. As I understand you have to remember your first transformation and try to reverse it. Imagine your wings turning back to arms and your claws back to feet and so on. It may take some time and you may do it on instinct by accident a couple of times but you have to just stick with it until you do so."

It took Harry about ten minutes but soon he was once again standing before Dumbledore in his human form. He was very glad that clothes seemed to be included in the transformation as he could think of nothing more awkward than the thought of appearing in front of one of his old professors completely nude.

"Wonderful Harry, truly, truly excellent. You seem to be a natural at this, I guess it must help to have a parent with the ability." Dumbledore said, smiling down at Harry. "You must simply practise this procedure over and over and soon it will become more and more natural and will require less and less thought until you can do it in your sleep. I think we will end this session here Harry as I am rather tired and if you do not head home soon you will be too. Good night Harry."

"Good night professor." Harry said, throwing some powder into the grate, stepping into the flames and stepping out into the living room of the Burrow. The thought of going to sleep completely evaded Harry despite that fact that it was almost two in the morning and a letter he had received the day before ask that he go to the ministry.

It was an experience similar to launching a small child head first into a sweet shop and expecting them to not stuff their pockets full. Harry was going to practice until he was sore, the barely contained excitement meant that Harry half walked, half skipped outside to the paddock where he stayed for the rest of the night. Several times he'd be half way through the transformation and he would slide back into his human form or he'd get stuck in his animal form and have a miniature heart attack before he could get back. By the time the sunlight was grazing the hedges surrounding the paddock Harry could transform within ten seconds, give or take a second or two and he was feeling quite chuffed with himself. He checked his watch and began to walk out of the paddock realizing Ginny would be up in a few minutes and, having promised he would be back in the morning, panicking if she couldn't find him. He stopped dead and slapped himself when he realized that walking was a thing of the past before concentrating and shifting into the owl, pushing off from the ground and using his large wings to carry his weight skyward.

By luck Ginny's window was open and Harry swooped in landing on her desk opposite the bed, admiring his girlfriend's sleeping form. Harry's sight was drawn to a small bottle lying on the floor next to the bed labelled _'dreamless sleep'_ and Harry flinched as he realized that his absence had forced Ginny to take potions to be able to get to sleep. He hopped off the desk and closer to the bed and started hooting at his girlfriend. It took several minutes for her to wake but when she did the shriek she let out would've caused him to grin. He hummed softly.

"Merlin's tits." She muttered. "Where the hell did you come from, hmm?" She glanced at the open window and hummed. "Well that answers that. Come on then, do you have a letter for me?"

Harry hopped up onto the bed and shuffled closer till he was perched on her leg. She began to brush the feathers on the back of his head and Harry hooted appreciatively.

"Aren't you friendly, seriously though where is your letter? Who did you come from?" Ginny then let out a rather ungodly shriek as Harry shifted back into himself. He roared with laughter as she scrambled away from him. "Harry! What the fucking hell!"

This only made Harry laugh louder.

"You're a fucking animagus now?!"

"Dumbledore thought that it would drain my magic off a bit while I learned to control it." He said between chuckles. Now that Ginny's heart rate had slowed down and the initial shock had worn off she shifted closer to her boyfriend.

"That was a very mean trick to play on me you know."

"How on earth will I make it up to you?"

Ginny grinned and learnt forward pressing her lips to his. The kiss was slow and passionate and Harry's hands were soon playing with Ginny's long fiery strands of hair that he so adored.

The door banged open with a crash and Ron rushed in wand drawn but stopped dead at what he saw.

Harry jumped up and away from Ginny so fast he got whiplash in his neck.

"ARE YOU TWO FUCKING SERIOUS?!" Ron roared.

"Shit." Ginny mumbled.

 **A/N Duh duh duuuuuuuuuhhh. Yeah I know, kind of a climax, kinda not. When I thought up the idea for this fic all I had was the idea for the first chapter and this scene. I always wanted it to be Ron to actually catch them at it but yeah.**

 **Anywayyyyyyy, Please review and tell me how you feel about what's been going on. If you loved it, tell me. If you hated it and want me to destroy my laptop and all the copies I have of this story with a flame thrower, I wanna know, so hit me up.**

 **Carrie**


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